17“For My part, I am about to bring the Flood—waters upon the earth—to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there is breath of life; everything on earth shall perish. 18But I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark, with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. 19And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on earth, two of each shall come to you to stay alive. 21For your part, take of everything that is eaten and store it away, to serve as food for you and for them.” 22Noah did so; just as God commanded him, so he did.
7 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, with all your house-hold, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation. 2Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and its mate; 3of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth. 4For in seven days’ time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created.” 5And Noah did just as the LORD commanded him.
6Noah was six hundred years old when the Flood came, waters upon the earth. 7Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood. 8Of the clean animals, of the animals that are not clean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9two of each, male and female, came to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10And on the seventh day the waters of the Flood came upon the earth.
11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day
All the fountains of the great deep burst apart,
And the floodgates of the sky broke open.
(12The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.) 13That same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, went into the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons—14they and all beasts of every kind, all cattle of every kind, all creatures of every kind that creep on the earth, and all birds of every kind, every bird, every winged thing. 15They came to Noah into the ark, two each of all flesh in which there was breath of life. 16Thus they that entered comprised male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
17The Flood continued forty days on the earth, and the waters increased and raised the ark so that it rose above the earth. 18The waters swelled and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark drifted upon the waters. 19When the waters had swelled much more upon the earth, all the highest mountains everywhere under the sky were covered. 20Fifteen cubits higher did the waters swell, as the mountains were covered. 21And all flesh that stirred on earth perished—birds, cattle, beasts, and all the things that swarmed upon the earth, and all mankind. 22All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died. 23All existence on earth was blotted out—man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
8 24And when the waters had swelled on the earth one hundred and fifty days, 1God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and God caused a wind to blow across the earth, and the waters subsided. 2The fountains of the deep and the flood-gates of the sky were stopped up, and the rain from the sky was held back; 3the waters then receded steadily from the earth. At the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters diminished, 4so that in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters went on diminishing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
6At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7and sent out the raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground. 9But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him. 10He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth. 12He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him any more.
13In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the waters began to dry from the earth; and when Noah removed the covering of the ark, he saw that the surface of the ground was drying. 14And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
15God spoke to Noah, saying, 16“Come out of the ark, together with your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives. 17Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds, animals, and everything that creeps on earth; and let them swarm on the earth and be fertile and increase on earth.” 18So Noah came out, together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 19Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking of every clean animal and of every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21The LORD smelled the pleasing odor, and the LORD said to Himself: “Never again will I doom the earth because of man, since the devisings of man’s mind are evil from his youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living being, as I have done.
22So long as the earth endures,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease.”
9 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth. 2The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky—everything with which the earth is astir—and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand. 3Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these. 4You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it. 5But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man!
6Whoever sheds the blood of man,
By man shall his blood be shed;
For in His image
Did God make man.
7Be fertile, then, and increase; abound on the earth and increase on it.”
8And God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“I now establish My covenant with you and your offspring to come, 10and with every living thing that is with you—birds, cattle, and every wild beast as well—all that have come out of the ark, every living thing on earth. 11I will maintain My covenant with you: never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12God further said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. 13I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. 17That,” God said to Noah, “shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.”
18The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth—Ham
